The Covid-19 pandemic continues to disrupt malaria treatment programmes across the globe, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said yesterday.
Since the outbreak of Covid-19 in 2019, many countries shifted their attention from other diseases to the pandemic.
Speaking during the mRNA Malaria Vaccine event yesterday, WHO director-general, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said Covid-19 was negatively impacting governmentsโ efforts to contain Malaria.
โA WHO survey of 105 countries last year showed that 46% of them reported disruptions in malaria diagnosis and treatment,โ said Ghebreyesus.
Ghebreyesus said WHOโs Strategic Advisory Group on malaria eradication has been clear on the need for new tools to realize the vision of a malaria-free world, including new vaccines.
โFor several decades, many major vaccine developers have gradually abandoned their attempts to develop malaria vaccines,โ he decried.
โBut six years ago, the worldโs first malaria vaccine was approved, and two years ago, WHO and our partners began a pilot programme to roll it out in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi.
More than 700 thousand children have now received the vaccine, and the initial results are very promising.โ
The WHO chief however said โincredibleโ progress has been registered in the fight against malaria
โSince 2000, malaria deaths have fallen by more than half, and we have succeeded in eliminating malaria from many parts of the world,โ noted Ghebreyesus.
โWHO has now certified 40 countries as malaria-free; most recently China, which reported 30 million cases a year in the 1940s. But globally, progress has stalled at an unacceptably high level, with more than 200 million cases and 400 thousand deaths every year. Most are children and pregnant women in Africa. And the COVID-19 pandemic has not helped.โ